Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-07-22
SIGuTLESS CADETS
bhnd Boys Marching and Going Through
the Manuel Of Arms With Precision.

Blind Boys Marching and Going Through
the Manuel of Arms With Precision.
Sixty boys in military uniforms, whose
slShuess eyes were blind 10 the sunlight
which triSkled through the leaves of the
trees above their heads, and who could
not RECOGNIZES the faces of the frisn is and
klnsmea who surrounded them, marched
Snd drilled yesterday in the grounds of
the Pennsylvania Institution for the In
Struction of the Blind with the precision
OF veterans. The drilling of the cadets
Is feature of this institution, and il is
an original feature, to which there is none
slmlllar IN this country. The patience,
the study and time spent upon this
praneh or instruction presents a reward
IN the improved bearing of the little
soldiers, and IN the health which the ex
cercise gives them,
When the cadets marched from the
gymnasium 10 the play ground il wss
almost impossible to believe the miniature
miitamen were blind. Their shoulders
were squared, their heads erect, and their
step was firm and regular. The muzzles
of their muskets made an unwaveriug
line of light, and the red stripes on their
trouser legs rose and fell with the reg
ularity of q machine. 1t was the final
full dress drill. and all of their friends
and relations and the friends of the in
stltuuon were gathered around the walls
OF the playground. But the applause
which Saluted the cadets as they filed past
was the only knowledge they had of the
near presence of hundreds of snectatorS
! The left hand of each boy rested, as he
marched, on the left hand shoulder of the
one proceeding him. The first boy IN
each company could see.
Commaudant Major Harry W. Hing ii
rected the battalion 10 ground arms, "
and at the word every gun touched the
ground at the same moment. The cadets
separated and stood at two Yards dis
lance. Then at the spoken command
they went through a calisthenic drill
clapplng their hands, raising their arms
and swinging them like so many auto
matsns worked by the same peice of
mechanism.
| 1t was only when the boys bent over to
| touch tbs ground with their finger tlps
| that there was any irregularity; then the
! difference in height of the cadets made 1t
impossible for the long limbed BOYS to
recover themselves rs quickly as did
| their younger comrades. TIE guns were
picked up and the command was given,
"Iwos, threes and tours, forward" The
ranks broke and their was a scattered
movement to the right; the right hands
and arms of the cadets held their muskets
| firm, and the left hands moved auxiously
in search of a companions shoulder. BY
| some instinct finer than sight itself, the
moment the wandering fingers of cadet
| touched the person of comrade he
ceelAed to know instantly that it was the
man he sought.
In few minutes the battalion was
formed in close ranks of two. As the
ranks marched and countermarched
broke and reformed, the other inmates
| of the institution sat and stood in groups
around the walls, guessing from the word
what their companions are doing. Among
them was large, heavily built man, who
| sat with one hand over his sightless eyes
and with the other clasped in both OF
those of little girl. She called him
father, and as the drill went on told him
! as graphically as a child could what her
black, pretty eyes saw before her, and
how and what the cadets were doing.
At the conclusion of the drill Acting
Principal Frank Battles called from thu
those of the boys who had won the nint
gold and bronze medals which ditreren
frieRds of the institution have awarded
annually to the best soldiers of the bat
TALON. 1t was q pretty and a patheti
picture the young soldiers made as the,
stepped forward, with their faces flushed
| with pleasure, and saluted while the
medals were pinned upon their breasts
And it was still more pathetic to see then
when they had been led back to the rank
| nervously finger the new decorations, Il
| read, if DOSSihle, their beauty thrOupl
their tinger-tips.